Buckwheat Linzer Cookies
In her book Flavor Flours, Alice Medrich shows readers how to use a variety of wheat-free flours to create delicious gluten-free treats. Here she puts a twist on traditional linzer cookies by using rice, buckwheat and oat flours.
Ingredients
For the sablés:
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (2 oz./55 g) white rice flour or 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. (2 oz./55 g) Thai white rice flour
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. (2 1/2 oz./70 g) buckwheat flour
- 2/3 cup (2 1/4 oz./65 g) oat flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz./100 g) sugar
- 1/4 cup (2 oz./60 g) cream cheese, cut into chunks
- 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) (6 oz./185 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into chunks
- 1 Tbs. water
To assemble:
- 1/2 cup (5 oz./155 g) blackberry or other preserves
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Directions
To make the dough by hand, in a large bowl, whisk together the rice flour, buckwheat flour, oat flour, salt, baking soda and sugar until thoroughly blended. Add the cream cheese, butter and water. Use a fork or the back of a large spoon to mash and mix the ingredients together until they form a smooth, soft dough.
To make the dough in a food processor, combine the rice flour, buckwheat flour, oat flour, salt, baking soda and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix thoroughly. Add the cream cheese, butter and water. Process just until the mixture forms a ball of smooth, soft dough. Scrape the bowl and blend in any stray flour at the bottom with your fingers.
Scrape the dough onto a sheet of wax paper and form it into two 8-inch (20-cm) logs about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter. Wrap tightly in the wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and preferably overnight.
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut the chilled logs into slices slightly less than 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick and arrange the slices 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets, dividing the slices evenly between them. Bake for 12 minutes.
Remove the upper sheet of cookies from the oven and place it on a work surface. Press a 7/8-inch (2-cm) cookie cutter gently into the center of each cookie. (If you don’t have a cookie cutter of the right size, you can improvise with a bottle cap of similar dimensions.) If the centers of the cookies lift out when you’re cutting them, that’s fine; otherwise, you can remove the centers later.
Switch the positions of the two baking sheets, rotating them 180 degrees at the same time. Continue baking until the cookies are slightly darker at the edges and well browned on the bottom, 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer the pans to wire racks and let cool completely. Remove the cutouts if you haven’t already done so. At this point, the cookies cookies can be stored in an airtight container for at least 2 weeks.
Shortly before serving, spread 1/2 tsp. of preserves on the cookies without holes. Sift a little confectioners’ sugar on top of the cookies with the holes and place one on top of each jam-topped cookie. Makes 18 sandwich cookies.
Excerpted from Flavor Flours by Alice Medrich (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2014.
